The invention relates to a safety arrangement for motor vehicles, which safety arrangement, in a crash, in particular a crash from the side, is intended to avoid the situation where an additional load is placed on a vehicle occupant because of an interaction between a motor vehicle seat and the occupant situated on the seat. In addition, the present invention may relate to motor vehicle seats with rigid and/or pronounced side bolsters.
The present invention relates generally to the field of seat belt winding. Particularly, the present invention relates to a seat belt retractor for winding up a seat belt by means of a motor, a seat belt apparatus with the seat belt retractor, and a method of winding up a seat belt by a motor.
A vehicle, such as an automobile, typically includes a seat belt apparatus for restraining an occupant in a seat. The seat belt apparatus may include a seat belt or webbing, a buckle, a tongue plate, and a retractor.
The retractor is a device for winding up the seat belt and may include a winding mechanism using spring force and a pretensioner that moves a piston by explosion of a powder or other material to strongly pull the belt in the event of an emergency, such as a vehicle collision, to restrain the occupant in the seat. A motorized retractor may include a motor to wind up the seat belt.
To reduce the electric power consumption, the motorized retractor may be adapted so that electric power is supplied to the motor when winding up the seat belt and the supply of the electric power to the motor is stopped and the motor is turned off after winding-up the seat belt. However, when the seat belt is caught by something such as an arm of the occupant during the winding-up of the seat belt or when the occupant starts the withdrawal of the seat belt during wind-up of the seat belt, the motor may not be suitably controlled to stop.